Chennai: TMC president G.K. Vasan on Tuesday announced his party would boycott the RK Nagar assembly bypoll stating that only the ruling party had won all the 22 bypolls held since 2001. “In a democracy, contesting in the election is the primary duty of all political parties. Basically, the by elections are always considered to measure the popularity or functioning of the ruling party. Now only the ruling party are winning the bypoll,” Mr Vasan said in a statement.
In case of Tamil Nadu, he said in the 22 bypolls held since 2001, only the ruling party won all the elections. “Noting that they had boycotted the recent Srirangam assembly bypoll, he said that his party had decided to boycott RK Nagar bypoll too.
Call to complaint
Meanwhile, district election officer Vikram Kapur announced a toll free number 1800 –4257012, for the convenience of the public to make complaints against violation of model of conduct in the city in connection with the R.K. Nagar by-election. A control room has been set up at the Ripon Buildings to register complaints from the public. The public can also call the Election Commission’s number – ‘1950’ and register their complaints.
A communication from the officer said “As many as 84 flying squad teams and six stationary monitoring and video surveillance teams have been formed to monitor the model code of conduct that is in force since May 26 and the expenditure made by political parties for campaigns.”Candidates can get applications from the Zone 4 – Tondiarpet — Officer K. Sourirajan from June 3 between 11 am and 3 pm and submit the filled in form before 3 pm on June 10. The officer convened an all-party meeting at the Ripon Buildings on Tuesday evening to clarify about the model code of conduct and the permitted election expenditure by political parties.
